But in 2016, the year that the Black Lives Matter movement gathered momentum, the country elected a white-nationalist sympathizer to the White House and Hillary Clinton tried and failed to break the glass ceiling, the story is achingly relevant. When modern American audiences previously got a load of Hairspray - first in Broadway in 2002 and next in Adam Shankman’s 2007 movie - it was easy to think of the story’s civil rights-era setting as throwback. Here where 10 of the best, worst and genuinely WTF moments from last night’s broadcast.īest: The Musical’s More-Than-Relevant Message But listen: Any day we get to see Harvey Fierstein performing in full drag on network television is a good goddamn day in America. Co-directed by Kenny Leon and Alex Rudzinski, NBC’s production was a sprawling affair featuring performances by a blend of Broadway vets and theater neophytes, some of whom don’t always stick the landing.
That’s not to say that Hairspray Live! was as flawless as Tracy’s Aqua-Netted coif. And vitally, all of this heavy, important stuff is dipped in a colorful, kitschy, salty-sweet coating and a wrapped in a package of catchy-as-hell songs from Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman’s 2002 Tony-winning Broadway show. But her quest for fame and acceptance snowballs into a fight for representation of the marginalized – specifically, the primacy of women and the desegregation of African Americans on television – that feels acutely relevant in our in-progress political climate. So unlike, say, Peter Pan Live! or Grease Live!, there’s a very good reason for this to be Live! right exactly now.īased on John Waters’s 1988 cult classic, Hairspray follows the exploits of Tracy Turnblad, a wide-eyed teenager in 1962 Baltimore with dreams of landing a spot on a local TV dance show in the vein of American Bandstand. But rarely have they been socially relevant – and then came Hairspray Live! The movie-turned-stage musical-turned-movie musical (got all that?) has now become a television extravaganza under the auspices of NBC’s live song-and-dance format, and its message of inclusivity, equality and the fight for civil rights has taken on a freshly urgent tone in our current cultural moment.
Network TV’s recent spate of live musicals have been many things, from buoyant and distracting to plodding and super awkward.
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